The present invention relates generally to retail store interior design, and more specifically to a novel and improved layout of the shelving and other means for holding and displaying goods for sale in a PrimeZone portion of the central space of the store.
The present invention has broad applicability to many types of retail establishments in which a wide variety of goods have historically been placed on long rows of parallel racks or shelves orderly arranged most often within a central portion of a large open room defined by exterior walls. In most cases, special purpose rooms or areas are positioned around the central space and proximate the surrounding walls. Grocery stores selling packaged comestibles, household goods and other products are an example of such establishment, but many other types of retail stores follow a similar pattern and as will be apparent to the reader, the present invention has broad applicability.
As generally illustrated in FIG. 1 of the present Drawing, a typical grocery store, schematically represented at 10, is usually configured to include four basic components; namely, a “Backroom” area 12 that is usually at the back of the store and used for the receiving and storage of product prior to its movement out to the display area; a “Front End” area 14, usually located at the front of the store close to the front doors 16 and often the area in which cash registers or other check out facilities are positioned; a “Perimeter” area 18 that is sometimes called the perishable perimeter because it typically includes the meat, seafood, produce, dairy, deli, floral, and bakery departments; and a “Center Store” area 20 in the center of the store and which typically includes long rows of parallel shelving systems 22 wherein grocery, frozen and refrigerated products, health and beauty Aids, wine, liquor, and bulk items are displayed for sale. The shelving systems 22 are typically comprised of a plurality of movable or non-movable shelving units 23 affixed together back-to-back and in series to form the several rows of double-sided shelves shown in FIG. 1. Shelving units which are intended to be movable are often referred to as “gondolas”.
Alternatively, there are some retail store configurations that commingle the various departments throughout the store due to store shell format, or for merchandising differentiation from other stores. For example, the produce area normally located in the Perimeter area 16 may be positioned to replace all or part of a normal aisle shelving system and extend down the middle of the center part of the store rather than along the inside perimeter of the store building. But even in such layouts, the produce cases are typically arrayed in linear formats forming straight lines within the center of the store.
The Center Store area has traditionally been a difficult and boring area of the store compared to the produce, deli and bakery sections because its long aisles of shelving usually do not stimulate the consumer to purchase other or more product than he or she came to buy.
The aisle spaces 24 are usually 5 to 7 feet in width, so as to allow shopping carts to pass, and the shelving systems can be as high as 86″. Most contemporary shelving systems include 7 or 8 shelves aligned and tied together in a row. Long rows of canned foods, packaged goods and glass doors with product in frozen and refrigerated cases normally do not stimulate consumers to spend more of their money in the store than they would normally spend to accommodate their needs.
Center Store aisles are typically viewed by consumers as shelf-lined walk ways along which consumers can walk to find a product, put it in their shopping cart or basket, and then move on to the next aisle to select the next product on their shopping list. The consumer typically does not linger or explore these aisles as they are more likely to do in a specialty cheese or bakery section.
When a traditionally configured new Center Store area is planned, the shelving layout is normally designed to incorporate one of the two major brands of linear shelving systems that lead the industry. These systems are typically comprised of a plurality of discrete shelving or other product display units that, once set in place, are almost never moved during the lifespan of the store, unless there is a complete remodel of the establishment. The reasons these shelving systems are almost never moved is because they have historically not been designed to move, and the normal practice of the retail industry has not been to move them. That is why nearly all Center Store shelving systems include shelving units, refrigerated units and product display cabinets are placed in long parallel straight lines creating straight aisles for consumers to walk through.
Within the Center Store, a shopper expects to find all of the major product categories including soups, pastas, condiments, paper goods, detergents, beverages, frozen foods, refrigerated foods, specialty and gourmet products, rice, beans, household products, bulk product, coffee, teas, snacks, etc., grouped together by type or category of product.
Promotional activity within the Center Store is usually limited to materials making special announcements connected to the shelves of the shelving systems and on-the-shelf promotion which includes tags promoting the product, coupon dispensers, sampling dispensers, advertising signs and shelf talkers.
A consumer, upon entering an aisle with parallel positioned shelving systems extending on both sides thereof, is typically looking for specific items and then moving on to the next aisle, and usually pays little attention to advertising. It is thus a challenge for companies marketing Consumer Product Goods (CPG) to get the attention of the consumer in such linear aisles.
Promotional activity within a store sometimes includes signage on the floor at the entrance to an aisle, or perhaps banners extending across the aisle overhead announcing a promotion. But these floor placed signs and overhead banners are usually not particularly effective because they are not directly in the line of sight of the consumer walking through the aisle and thus not well focused on the product offerings on the shelves.
The most effective and highly coveted promotional locations within the traditional Center Store are the 3 or 4 foot areas at the end of each aisle in which transversely extending shelving or display cases 26 can be positioned. These shelf end display facilities are called “End Caps” and can readily be seen by consumers from a distance as well as when they enter an adjacent aisle. In fact, it is fair to say that nearly all consumers will see or at least glance at an End Cap product offering of specials and/or promotions by a CPG purveyor, or the store itself in promoting its Private Label brands.
In fact, it is not unusual for CPG companies to pay significant sums of money to the store for the right to display their products on an End Cap for a one or two week period. This is usually the case within the larger national chain stores wherein typical Center Store sales, on a national average, represent 66% of the total store sales. This can of course vary depending on the geographical location of the store.
However, Center Store sales have been declining for traditional grocery store chains over the past 10 years or so, due to the intense competition from the large national and international discounters. Supermarkets simply cannot price-wise compete against the discounters on many Center Store items, so have accepted this fact and have tried other concepts to promote their products. For example, many supermarkets have chosen to focus on the store Perimeter area wherein they feel they can compete more favorably with the discounters. But most have experienced little improvement.
As discussed above, supermarket design for the Center Store has been the same for as long as there have been supermarkets, i.e., straight aisles with straight rows of gondolas or fixed shelving holding the products, or straight rows of refrigerated or frozen food cases. Although the large vendors will pay for the privilege of having their product displayed at the end of the aisle on End Caps, where their product can be easily seen by most anyone coming into the store, there are very little other areas of the store for these vendors to promote their items other than on the shelves. Only a few large vendors get the larger floor space that allows for big displays to get the consumers attention. But consistent with the old saying “Stack it high and watch it fly”, these companies pay dearly to have their products in such spaces.
Another concern is that branded vendors have always had to battle with the stores over placement of product competing with the store's Private Label brands. Private Label brands are normally sold for lower prices in the store because most stores usually spend relatively little in marketing the items. But some of the national CPG vendors have significant resources available for marketing and in-store promotion of their competing products, and thus find success even though their products are usually higher in price than the Private Label products.
There is thus a need for a completely new and unique layout for the Center Store area of a retail establishment; one that offers a radical departure from traditional layouts for the Center Store, and one which creates more desirable space for all concerned to promote their products
There is also a need for a new and unique layout for the Center Store which, through sale of PrimeZone space to the larger vendors, creates an additional profit center for the store.
There is in addition a need for a novel Center Store solution which adds flexibility to the shelving design so that the store can configure and reconfigure the shelving layout in a PrimeZone space to accommodate the promotional needs of those vendors who are willing to pay a premium for the privilege.
There is yet a further need for a design and layout that offers PrimeZone space for promotional signage within the Center Store which in the past has been limited to off-the-shelf, floor or banners above the aisle signage; such solution providing yet another potential profit center for the store.
Still another need in the field of the present invention is the provision of shelving and other display units mounted on glider devices attached to the supporting leg posts of shelving units and the like, which enable movement, leveling and positional fixation for the units.